They have a different redemption schedule which is better for some trips and worse for others. But they do have much higher fees than United does. Still, if you have lots of MR points and somewhere you want to go, it is most certainly a viable alternative. It is mileage based. With United there is one cost (in miles) from anywhere in the US to, for example, Europe. With ANA, you need to figure the round-trip miles.

Here's the schedule:

Total itinerary distance (the sum of all basic flight segment mileages)

And honestly, if you're not particularly interested in the process (from your posts it seems that this is not really a priority for you) consider paying one of the booking services to handle everything for you. I do not have an interest in any of them, and have never used them, but they could be a good fit here.

You're going to need to put in more time than it takes to write 3 word posts, and I just get the impression that you're looking for an answer that may be simpler than reality.

Amex points can get you essentially anywhere. Amex has a number of Star Alliance transfer partners. So long as you are not looking to use a double-miles award on UA, you'll be good with their Star partners. Make sure to pick the partner with the best rewards price for what you're looking to do.

In my experience, transfers to Air Canada are instant from Amex MR.

Unless you are looking to top up a UA account for just a few miles, I would advise strongly against the Amex-SPG-UA two-step transfer due to the adverse ratios on Amex-SPG, and SPG-UA!

Beyond the obvious linked partners, there are also a myriad of "indirect" partners that you can get to with Amex points. Full details here...

I have no real preference to airlines. My goal is business or 1st for the least # of miles.
Oct 5 or 6 2013 ORD-BCN
Oct 21 ROME-ORD

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Should price at 85K from ANA or 90K from Aeroplan. Depending on metal flown you might have to pay the YQ as well which adds some cash cost. Transferring to Aeroplan is instant which is a nice benefit versus waiting a couple days for the transfer and hoping the seats are still there with ANA.

Amex points can get you essentially anywhere. Amex has a number of Star Alliance transfer partners. So long as you are not looking to use a double-miles award on UA, you'll be good with their Star partners. Make sure to pick the partner with the best rewards price for what you're looking to do.

In my experience, transfers to Air Canada are instant from Amex MR.

Unless you are looking to top up a UA account for just a few miles, I would advise strongly against the Amex-SPG-UA two-step transfer due to the adverse ratios on Amex-SPG, and SPG-UA!

Beyond the obvious linked partners, there are also a myriad of "indirect" partners that you can get to with Amex points. Full details here...

Unless you are looking to top up a UA account for just a few miles, I would advise strongly against the Amex-SPG-UA two-step transfer due to the adverse ratios on Amex-SPG, and SPG-UA!

Click to expand...

Argh. I knew SPG->UA was 2:1 and something to avoid, but I was unaware that you lost points on AMEX->SPG. At what ration does this happen, please? I'll root around and see if I can find it myself ... thanks.

Argh. I knew SPG->UA was 2:1 and something to avoid, but I was unaware that you lost points on AMEX->SPG. At what ration does this happen, please? I'll root around and see if I can find it myself ... thanks.

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Bummer. Looks like 3 MR points gets you 1 SPG point. Time to redo some gozintas.

Air Canada Aeroplan comes to mind (1 : 1). You will have to pay fuel surcharges on most itineraries or use points.com to get your Aeroplan miles into US Airways (roughly 5 : 4) which does not charge fuel surcharges, but do charge a $50 award fee. I would play around with aeroplan.com or united.com for availability. If you can find ORD-MAD, then you can transfer a few MR points to Iberia and get a MAD-BCN shuttle for 4500 points. I did that last year and it was nice to know that the shuttle is there then you show up (you have an open ticket). Only downside is that you must deal with your baggage in MAD.

If you are wiling to take one connection, then Iberia can do ORD-MAD-BCN on October 6th for 49k and $102 pp, and Aeroplan can get you back on United for 60k and ?$ (FCO-BRU-ORD) all in business. You should check out Alitalia as well. They might have direct flights from FCO, but I don't know how to avoid crazy fees on them.